A Writer’s Journal

If you want to read the first installment of my Prague adventures, scroll down to the post below this one, for “Getting There.” If you want to read about my adventures in Cape Cod, scroll down to the entry below that, Sunday’s entry, where I detail the trip.

Yesterday wound up being pretty productive, actually, I caught up on a bunch of email, and on some websites. I created a spreadsheet for a project whose progress I need to track in more detail than simply in log form and filled in all the information. I polished my applications and proposal materials for two residencies. I’ll do a final proof reading this morning and get them out — along with some certified letters that have to go out, one of which goes to the scumbag landlords. Yes, folks, they’re at it again.

Got a couple of pitches out. Responded to my editor about the Anita Blake essay. Now that I have some distance, I think I can tackle it again with fresh eyes. I was a lot more straightforward with her instead of just trying to please her, and I think we can work together to make it a strong piece. I got a rejection from an anthology that pissed me off for a variety of reasons, but listing them will sound like sour grapes, so I won’t. They didn’t want to burn the bridge, but I found the tone condescending, and with their credits, they are in no position to condescend to me. Next! It would be a reprint of a piece that was already very successful, so it’s no skin off my nose — hell, I’ve already been paid for the piece, it’s been published, and that publication wants more with the same characters. I also got a lovely note from my producer — THE MATILDA MURDERS is doing very well, and is even being booked for encore performances. All good. I also found, hidden amongst the emails while I was gone, a detailed response to concerns I’d sent to the White House. Instead of an automated response, an individual actually went through my letter point-by-point and responded. While I still may not agree with everything, I at least have a better understanding of certain decisions and policies, and I appreciate that someone actually took the time to craft an individual and detailed response.

I managed to stay up until 10 PM and didn’t wake up until 5:30 this morning (which is a reasonable time to wake up in my world). Maybe I’m readjusting. I can’t believe that, a week ago today, I was still in Prague, preparing to head back.

I have a LOT on my plate this week, and I just have to go through it, bite by bite, to get it all done: The Anita Blake essay rewrite, the residency proposals, starting the NYFA grant proposal, the article on cat health, the Prague articles, the Cape articles, finishing up my brochure and getting the mailing under way, working on the Prague photos, doing the next newsletter, writing a 2500 word short story, getting started on two Jain Lazarus short stories and one Rose Olen short story, and getting back to AMENDS. ANGEL HUNT is my big October project, and I also have to do the final prep for teaching at The Muse Online.

As a long time reader of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels, I look forward to your essay. I’m not as enthusiastic a reader of the books as I once was because Hamilton has done some strange things to her major character, and I keep thinking she’s got a master plan for Anita somewhere in the shadows.

After that wonderful time in Prague, coming back to the mundane must be like climbing back up the rabbit hole! d:))

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Devon’s Random Newsletter

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GWEN FINNEGAN MYSTERIES

Archaeologist Dr. Gwen Finnegan is on the hunt for her lover’s killer. Shy historical researcher Justin Yates, frustrated with his failing relationship, jumps at the chance to join her on a real adventure through Europe, pursued by factions including Gwen’s ex-lover and nemesis, Karl, as they try to unspool fact from fiction in a multi-generational obsession with a statue of the goddess Medusa.
Buy links here.

Stuck in NYC when plans for their next expedition fall through, Gwen and Justin accept teaching jobs at different local universities. Adjusting to their day-to-day relationship, and juggling the academic and emotional demands of their students, they are embroiled in two different, disturbing, paranormal situations that have more than one unusual crossing point. Can they work together to find the answers? Or are new temptations too much to resist? For whom are they willing to put their lives on the line? Available on multiple digital channels here.

NAUTICAL NAMASTE MYSTERIES

SAVASANA AT SEA

Yoga instructor Sophie Batchelder jumps at the chance to teach on a cruise ship when she loses her job and her boyfriend dumps her in the same day. But when her boss is murdered, and the crew thinks she's taking over her predecessor's blackmail scheme, Sophie must figure out who the real killer is -- before he turns her into a corpse, too. A Not-Quite-Cozy Mystery.
Buy Links here.

COVENTINA CIRCLE ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

PLAYING THE ANGLES
Witchcraft, politics, and theatre collide as Morag D’Anneville and Secret Service agent Simon Keane fight to protect the Vice President of the United States -- or is it Morag who needs Simon’s protection more than the VP?
Buy links here.

THE SPIRIT REPOSITORY
Bonnie Chencko knows books change lives. But she never expected her life to change because she happened to duck into a small bookshop in Greenwich Village on a rainy late November night. She’s attracted to Rufus Van Dijk, the mysterious man who owns the bookshop in his ancestors’ building. A building filled with family ghosts, who are mysteriously disappearing. It’s up to Bonnie and her burgeoning Craft powers to rescue the spirits before their souls are lost forever. Buy Links here.

RELICS & REQUIEM
Amanda Breck’s complicated life gets more convoluted when she finds the body of Lena Morgan in Central Park, identical to Amanda’s dream. Detective Phineas Regan is one case away from retirement; the last thing he needs is a murder case tinged by the occult. The seeds of their attraction were planted months ago, when Phineas investigated an attack on Amanda’s friend Morag. Now, fate is determined to draw them close. But can they work together to stop a wily, vicious killer, or will the murderer destroy them both?
Buy link here.

THE JAIN LAZARUS ADVENTURES

Hex Breaker by Devon Ellington. A Jain Lazarus Adventure. Hex Breaker Jain Lazarus joins the crew of a cursed film, teaming with tough, practical Detective Wyatt East on an adventure fighting zombies, ceremonial magicians, the town wife-beater, the messenger of the gods, and their own pasts.
This series will re-release in 2020.
Visit the site for the Jain Lazarus adventures.</a

Full Circle: An Ars Concordia Anthology. Edited by Colin Galbraith. My story is “Pauvre Bob”, set at Arlington Race Track in Illinois is included in this wonderful collection of short stories and poetry. You can download it free here.